Dark Tones

The term high and low key refer to the dominant prevailing tones – light or dark – used in a picture. A high key photograph consist mostly of white and light tones and some middle tones, whereas a low key photograph is composed predominately of black and dark tones. … PDF: High and Low Key

Scenes that are light overall, such as a snow scene, can look too dark in the final photograph if you make just an overall read­ing or let an automatic camera make one for you. The reason is that the meter will make its usual assumption that it is pointed at a scene consisting of light, medium, and dark tones, and it will expose the film accordingly. But this will underexpose a scene that consists mostly of light tones, resulting in a too-dark final photograph. Try giving one or two stops extra exposure to such scenes. PDF: Exposing Scenes that are Lighter or Darker than Average